Role Reversal
by press rewind listen again
Summary: When Kratos returns, things are a bit different than everybody thought they would be.


_**Chapter 01**_

It was silent except for the scratching of twenty four pens on paper writing away all the children had learned about the great Kharlan War in the previous weeks.

Sharp eyes looked around paying rapt attention so that nobody would cheat.

Eighteen faces were full of concentration, four seemed to show signs of desperation and two looked entirely bored.

Raine smiled a little to herself. She should have guessed.

When Yuan, the smug bastard, had shown up wearing this infuriating smirk of his and started to ask strange questions, Raine instantly knew something was fishy.

Well Lloyd had been his usual slow and naive self and thus hadn't noticed anything.

Two days later Yuan had arrived again. This time with a little bundle and the most annoying smirk Raine had ever seen. And she had seen a lot of those.

Sometimes she allowed herself to wonder what Kratos would do to his friend once he found out.

Although it was yet more of an 'if' he ever found out. Certainly a 'when' he found out was purely hypothetical.

She stopped in front of the boy's desk. His auburn hair was a mess as usual. Red brown eyes told a story of utter boredom and burned with a yearning to do something other than sitting around to wait for his classmates finishing.

Taking his sheet of paper she told him to go outside if he was finished then motioned for Genis to do the same.

She couldn't help the smile, when her eyes flew over the paper.

Lloyd had probably gotten his talent for schoolwork from the other parent.

Either this or he had been dropped on the head once too often as a child. A thing that wouldn't really puzzle her, considering the father.

Oh well..

After Yuan had left the baby with Lloyd and Colette it had taken them a whole month to finally figure out who exactly they had taken in.

Raine winced a little. Not to say anything bad about her two friends but neither of them was what you would call perceptive.

Raine wasn't sure if Kratos would still be called 'Jack' if she hadn't stepped in and pointed out her observations.

Not that she wanted to judge, of course. She was of the opinion that she herself was really open minded and tolerant.

But what kind of name was Jack?!

That had been the final straw and she had forgotten all about wanting them to figure it out by themselves.

It had taken Lloyd another day to really understand what was happening.

It was a miracle the child was so bright growing up with those two…

Shaking her head the professor focused her attention back on the class.

"Mirel! Put your eyes back on your own paper!"

The girl named Mirel paled and adjusted her gaze at once.

When Raine checked her watch she saw that there were still fifteen minutes to go.

o.o.o.o.o

The boy's name was Kratos. His dad once had told him that he was named after his grandfather.

Genis had told him that it was fitting because he acted and looked a lot like his namesake too.

When he had mentioned this to his dad he had become strange and very quiet. Apparently it wasn't a topic he was very fond of.

Kratos understood that there had to be some issues. He wondered a little about the why of his name sometimes but he wasn't stupid enough to ask his parents about it .

Pushing the questions back he thought that perhaps he could ask Genis if he ever worked up the courage to demand answers.

He couldn't say that he understood everything but he thought that he understood enough. People always went on an on about him being very bright for his eleven years of age and if they were in anyway right about it he would continue to trust his feelings.

Wasn't that the thing Genis called a paradox the other day?

He mulled that over in his head but didn't really come to any kind of conclusion. With a shrug he let it go.

Genis..

Genis was like an uncle for him. Or better like some kind of older brother.

He was always there for him and sometimes Kratos felt like the half elf was the only person that could truly understand him.

The other children of his class seemed still much too childish in their games and actions and even if he loved them very much his parents struck him as not too intelligent.

Of course his dad was the greatest father a child could ever hope for. He showed him how to fight with a sword or they would play pranks on Professor Raine. At night they would lay and look at the stars together and he would snuggle up to Noishe and listen to his fathers stories about his adventures long ago.

His mother was the sweetest person one could ever imagine. True she was a bit clumsy … okay so she was very clumsy, but she would always be there if he felt sad or if he had bruised his knee in sword-practice and would make it all better again with a hot chocolate or some cookies.

She was this kind of cliché mother that Professor Raine didn't seem to like very much.

Kratos loved them. But he couldn't talk to them nor could they ever sufficiently answer all those questions that never seemed to stop coming from his mouth.

This was what Genis did.

He would explain things to him or give him books that he thought the eleven year old could find interesting.

The boy looked up when he heard footsteps.

And frowned when a blue haired man he didn't recognize came walking up to him.

* * *

**AN: **Another plot bunny, they come around more often since school ended ^^

So I'd like to know what you think? Pretty please ^^

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Tales of Symphonia. Well nothing I can do about it :)


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